International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 8, 2017 17
financial improprieties,5
4F
educational
deficiencies,6
5F
and poor working conditions7
6F
can
lead to public-relations nightmares and
widespread acceptance that the group is a cult.
More damaging are allegations of these types of
abuses involving children.
7F
8 Public suspicion
about any of these types of abuse likely will lead
to increased external scrutiny, which can lead to
high-profile media accounts, police surveillance,
anticult lectures, and court cases. Groups
actually may modify their names, leaders,
doctrines, or behaviors in response to that
scrutiny,9
8F
or they may disintegrate and fade.
Amidst child sexual abuse allegations,10
9F
group
leaders realize the gravity of the situations
4 Cameron Stauth, 2013, In the Name of God: The True Story of
the Fight to Save Children From Faith-healing Homicide (New
York, NY: St. Martin’s Press).
5 Kurst-Swanger, 2008, pp. 93–94.
6 Julia Scheeres, 2015 (September 1), “Children of the Tribes,”
Pacific Standard, pp. 14–15 Available from
https://psmag.com/children-of-the-tribes-5b95e96c4bfa#.yz6tcb14l
7 Scheeres, 2015, pp. 13–15.
8 On the problem of multiple types of child abuse occurring within
religious settings, see Gail S. Goodman, Gette L. Bottoms, Allison
Redlich, Phillip R. Shaver, and Kathleen R. Diviak, 1998,
“Correlates of Multiple Forms of Victimization in Religion-
Related Child Abuse Cases,” Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment
&Trauma, (2)1, 273–295.
9 Two of these types of changes took place in 2011, after Guru
Prakashanand Waraswati (82), who was the head of the Barsana
Dham ashram (in Austin, Texas), was convicted of 20 counts of
indecency with two children, each of whom claimed that the abuse
started when they were 12 years old. His sentence was to spend
280 years in jail, but before sentencing he skipped bail and has not
been located. The group’s new leader, who himself had beaten
charges of rape in two countries, immediately changed the
facility’s name to Radha Madhav Dham (Sean Kimmons, 2011
[March 4], “Hindu Guru Found Guilty on 20 Counts of Indecency
With Children,” Hays Free Press available from
http://haysfreepress.com/2011/03/04/hindu-guru-found-guilty-on-
20-counts-of-indecency-with-children/ Mandy Oaklander, 2011
[April 15], “BarsanaDham Ashram, Once Home to Wanted Felon
Guru Prakashanand Saraswati, Changes Name and Appoints a
New Leader—Another Accused Rapist,” Houston Press available
from http://www.houstonpress.com/news/barsana-dham-ashram-
once-home-to-wanted-felon-guru-prakashanand-saraswati-
changes-name-and-appoints-a-new-leader-another-accused-rapist-
6736029
10 The Canadian Criminal Code has several sections devoted to
identifying illegal sexual acts, and they also pertain to the
exploitation of children. For example, the Code identifies Sexual
Interference as directly or indirectly touching, for sexual purposes,
“a part of the body or with an object any part of the body of a
person under the age of 16 years ...” (Criminal Code RS C 2013 c
C-151). The indictable offense of Sexual Touching involves
confronting them, although they may respond in
ways that do not acknowledge the primacy of
protecting children from harm. The more astute
leaders will make assessments of the
circumstances surrounding the allegations
(including the positions of the accused in the
movements, the number of accusations, and the
period in the movements’ histories that the
violations allegedly occurred). Taking into
account the alleged perpetrators’ positions in the
religions, responses may vary from separating
the alleged perpetrators from the groups
themselves
10F
11 to defending central or key
figures/leaders.
11F
12 Some controversial groups
“Every person who, for a sexual purpose, invites, counsels or
incites a person under the age of 16 years to touch, directly or
indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, the body of
any person, including the body of the person who so invites,
counsels or incites and the body of the person under the age of 16
years, (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years and to a
minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of one year or
(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and
is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years less
a day and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of
90 days” (Criminal Code RSC 2013 c C-152).
In the context of children, the United States Code defines “sexual
abuse” as including “(A) the employment, use, persuasion,
inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or
assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct
or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual
depiction of such conduct or (B) the rape, and in cases of
caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape,
molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of
children, or incest with children” (U.S. Code › Title 42 › Chapter
67 › Subchapter I › § 5106g—Definitions).
11 For the example of Charles Leadbeater’s temporary expulsion
(via resignation) from the Theosophical Society (beginning in May
1906) for teaching young and teenaged boys about the supposed
health benefits of masturbation (sometimes giving that advice to
boys who had not asked for it), plus probably touching some of
them in an unspecified manner, see Gregory Tillett, 1982, The
Elder Brother: A Biography of Charles Webster Leadbeater, pp.
83–87 (London, UK: Routledge Kegan Paul). In December 1908,
the Theosophical Society voted Leadbeater back in (Tillet, 1982, p.
100). From his jail cell, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of
Latter-day Saints, Warren Jeffs, continued to run the remainder of
his polygamous organization of perhaps 10,000 people after his
conviction on two counts of sexually assaulting children (Alex
Hannaford, “The Evil Preacher Who Runs His Cult From Prison,”
2014 [June 17], Telegraph “Convicted FLDS Child Rapist Warren
Jeffs Leads Polygamist Sect From Behind Bars,” 2015 [September
30], KYLA5. Toward the end of this article, we discuss Jeffs
further.
12 For a summary of the discussion within the Branch Davidians
over David Koresh’s (1959–1993) alleged vision that God had
commanded him to have a child with his 11-year-old sister-in-law,
and his wife’s dream that “David might be destroyed, even die, if
he refused the divine command,” see David Thibodeau, 1999, A
Place Called Waco: A Survivor’s Story, pp. 108–109 (New York,
financial improprieties,5
4F
educational
deficiencies,6
5F
and poor working conditions7
6F
can
lead to public-relations nightmares and
widespread acceptance that the group is a cult.
More damaging are allegations of these types of
abuses involving children.
7F
8 Public suspicion
about any of these types of abuse likely will lead
to increased external scrutiny, which can lead to
high-profile media accounts, police surveillance,
anticult lectures, and court cases. Groups
actually may modify their names, leaders,
doctrines, or behaviors in response to that
scrutiny,9
8F
or they may disintegrate and fade.
Amidst child sexual abuse allegations,10
9F
group
leaders realize the gravity of the situations
4 Cameron Stauth, 2013, In the Name of God: The True Story of
the Fight to Save Children From Faith-healing Homicide (New
York, NY: St. Martin’s Press).
5 Kurst-Swanger, 2008, pp. 93–94.
6 Julia Scheeres, 2015 (September 1), “Children of the Tribes,”
Pacific Standard, pp. 14–15 Available from
https://psmag.com/children-of-the-tribes-5b95e96c4bfa#.yz6tcb14l
7 Scheeres, 2015, pp. 13–15.
8 On the problem of multiple types of child abuse occurring within
religious settings, see Gail S. Goodman, Gette L. Bottoms, Allison
Redlich, Phillip R. Shaver, and Kathleen R. Diviak, 1998,
“Correlates of Multiple Forms of Victimization in Religion-
Related Child Abuse Cases,” Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment
&Trauma, (2)1, 273–295.
9 Two of these types of changes took place in 2011, after Guru
Prakashanand Waraswati (82), who was the head of the Barsana
Dham ashram (in Austin, Texas), was convicted of 20 counts of
indecency with two children, each of whom claimed that the abuse
started when they were 12 years old. His sentence was to spend
280 years in jail, but before sentencing he skipped bail and has not
been located. The group’s new leader, who himself had beaten
charges of rape in two countries, immediately changed the
facility’s name to Radha Madhav Dham (Sean Kimmons, 2011
[March 4], “Hindu Guru Found Guilty on 20 Counts of Indecency
With Children,” Hays Free Press available from
http://haysfreepress.com/2011/03/04/hindu-guru-found-guilty-on-
20-counts-of-indecency-with-children/ Mandy Oaklander, 2011
[April 15], “BarsanaDham Ashram, Once Home to Wanted Felon
Guru Prakashanand Saraswati, Changes Name and Appoints a
New Leader—Another Accused Rapist,” Houston Press available
from http://www.houstonpress.com/news/barsana-dham-ashram-
once-home-to-wanted-felon-guru-prakashanand-saraswati-
changes-name-and-appoints-a-new-leader-another-accused-rapist-
6736029
10 The Canadian Criminal Code has several sections devoted to
identifying illegal sexual acts, and they also pertain to the
exploitation of children. For example, the Code identifies Sexual
Interference as directly or indirectly touching, for sexual purposes,
“a part of the body or with an object any part of the body of a
person under the age of 16 years ...” (Criminal Code RS C 2013 c
C-151). The indictable offense of Sexual Touching involves
confronting them, although they may respond in
ways that do not acknowledge the primacy of
protecting children from harm. The more astute
leaders will make assessments of the
circumstances surrounding the allegations
(including the positions of the accused in the
movements, the number of accusations, and the
period in the movements’ histories that the
violations allegedly occurred). Taking into
account the alleged perpetrators’ positions in the
religions, responses may vary from separating
the alleged perpetrators from the groups
themselves
10F
11 to defending central or key
figures/leaders.
11F
12 Some controversial groups
“Every person who, for a sexual purpose, invites, counsels or
incites a person under the age of 16 years to touch, directly or
indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, the body of
any person, including the body of the person who so invites,
counsels or incites and the body of the person under the age of 16
years, (a) is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to
imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years and to a
minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of one year or
(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and
is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years less
a day and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of
90 days” (Criminal Code RSC 2013 c C-152).
In the context of children, the United States Code defines “sexual
abuse” as including “(A) the employment, use, persuasion,
inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or
assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct
or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual
depiction of such conduct or (B) the rape, and in cases of
caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape,
molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of
children, or incest with children” (U.S. Code › Title 42 › Chapter
67 › Subchapter I › § 5106g—Definitions).
11 For the example of Charles Leadbeater’s temporary expulsion
(via resignation) from the Theosophical Society (beginning in May
1906) for teaching young and teenaged boys about the supposed
health benefits of masturbation (sometimes giving that advice to
boys who had not asked for it), plus probably touching some of
them in an unspecified manner, see Gregory Tillett, 1982, The
Elder Brother: A Biography of Charles Webster Leadbeater, pp.
83–87 (London, UK: Routledge Kegan Paul). In December 1908,
the Theosophical Society voted Leadbeater back in (Tillet, 1982, p.
100). From his jail cell, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of
Latter-day Saints, Warren Jeffs, continued to run the remainder of
his polygamous organization of perhaps 10,000 people after his
conviction on two counts of sexually assaulting children (Alex
Hannaford, “The Evil Preacher Who Runs His Cult From Prison,”
2014 [June 17], Telegraph “Convicted FLDS Child Rapist Warren
Jeffs Leads Polygamist Sect From Behind Bars,” 2015 [September
30], KYLA5. Toward the end of this article, we discuss Jeffs
further.
12 For a summary of the discussion within the Branch Davidians
over David Koresh’s (1959–1993) alleged vision that God had
commanded him to have a child with his 11-year-old sister-in-law,
and his wife’s dream that “David might be destroyed, even die, if
he refused the divine command,” see David Thibodeau, 1999, A
Place Called Waco: A Survivor’s Story, pp. 108–109 (New York,
